We started the meeting with a discussion about a new paint on the market from a company called Scale Color Paints started by Jeff Herne who is a well known author and scale modeler. These new paints are described as water/alcohol based acrylic. I tested them against Colourcoats, Tru-Color, and compared them to the Snyder & Short color chips I have. Unfortunately my color chips are packed away so I can't show them to you. But I found that the Scale Colors matched favorably with the color chips. I say favorably because none of them match exactly.
Although Scale Colors says that you can use rubbing alcohol to clean your airbrush, I would recommend using water instead. I used a stronger alcohol than normal rubbing alcohol and it did not work well. The paint actually came out of the color cup in sheets. Water worked perfectly.
I sprayed the samples over a base coat of Stynylrez primer. I found that they spray extremely well. The paint is very durable after it dries. Caution, this paint does not brush well at all. It is really made for airbrushing only.
Something interesting was learned along the way. I had several tins of the White Ensign Models (WEM) last run of MO3 (Haze Gray) and MO4 (Deck Gray). You can see the samples of WEM Colourcoats Haze Gray. As you can see the Haze Gray isn't even close and the two samples I had from two different tins aren't even close to each other. I wrote Sovereign Hobbies and asked them if they had any information about this. They explained that WEM put out some bad batches of paint just as they were closing down. Sovereign Hobbies who has taken over this line has corrected the issue and assured me that under their ownership the paints are now correct.
Colourcoats from Sovereign Hobbies is available in the US from HB Models. They are currently out of the Haze Gray and Deck Gray but anticipate them back in stock by late June.
Next I talked about my Chibi-Maru Egg Ship. These kits are something I do every Easter as a break from more serious modeling. They are very well designed and fit together beautifully. Fujimi offers upgrade kits which include wood decks and photo etch parts. They don't cost much and are well designed to fit the kit. These are mostly available from Japan from vendors like Hobby Link Japan and Hobby Search. They cost about $15 and you can get the upgrade parts for another $12 each.
I used Infini lycra rigging thread to rig this model. I learned a very useful technique for attaching this thread to the model. You put a drop of gap filling CA where you want the end of the line. You soak the end of the rigging line in accelerator and then touch it to the glue. Hold it in place for a couple of seconds and the line is attached. The beauty of this is that there is no trimming and a perfect attach point. Give it a try!
John DuGene brought in his Revell Wilhelm Bauer/ U-2540 Type XXI U-Boat. John picked this up from the clearance rack at Colpar. The model is beautifully finished using rattle can paints. John also weathered it with oil which looks very convincing. Excellent work John!
John Widmar heard my call for help for Brian who is looking for a USS Cimarron T-3 tanker. John brought in some finished 1/700 tanker/oiler kits. My favorite is that little guy which is from Loose Canon models and is an aviation fuel tanker.
John also brought in some excellent kits from OCEANMOON, Five Star Models, HP Models, and Flyhawk Models. I was intrigued by the OCEANMOON kits. You can find them on eBay. Each kit has a small plastic case to protect the hull but can also be used to manage the parts as you build the ship.
John also brought in some resin buildings. These are 1/700 resin shipyard buildings available from eBay out of Germany. Can you imagine a 1/700 Titanic with one of these beauties!
John found these excellent sanding/grinding kits from China
And from AK Interactive an example of one of their all inclusive paint kits. These are water based acrylic paints and sell for about $15 each.
Bill Smallshaw brought in his completed 1/700 container ship and showed me how a sane person would approach this kit. Bill did a real nice job of painting the containers to represent a typical load.
Tim brought us home with a nice demonstration of his soldering station and digital microscope. The soldering station has a hot air iron along with a traditional iron built in. The soldering station is available on eBay for about $53.00 delivered. It's also digital so you can dial in the heat setting you're looking for. Unfortunately the soldering paste had dried up so it demonstrate well. But Tim recovered with some Stay Brite Silver Solder and his traditional iron. It made a nice solid joint. The microscope works quite well and as you can see give you a very good close up image of what you're working on.
Tim also brought another microscope. These are designed for soldering but could be quite useful for modeling. They cost about $45 on eBay delivered.
I'm amazed at how much we covered! Thanks again everyone and I look forward to seeing you next time!
Dave
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